The reported cases of COVID-19 in Africa have jumped by 43% in the number of in the last week alone. World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the continent of 1.3 billion people is poised to potentially become the next epicentre of the highly infectious and deadly disease.
African Union (AU) special envoy Tidjane Thiam on Thursday disclosed that a widespread outbreak of the new coronavirus in Africa would be a disaster for the continent. Africa, with 1.8 hospital beds per 1,000 people, has “no capacity” to treat COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, he said in an online conference.
Most countries on the continent have sealed or tightened their borders, banned public gatherings and closed schools, among other preventive measures. While, Comoros and Lesotho are African countries yet to report a case of the virus.
“We are at the beginning in Africa,” Dr Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, said last week.
African nations are on defence against the Covid-19 virus. The continent could be overwhelmed in the face of a severe outbreak of COVID-19, the highly infectious respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus due to the continent fragile health care systems.
Countries on the continent are bracing for a surge in carnivorous cases, but its countries are far behind in the global race for medical equipment that’s dangerously scarce. With outbid or outmanoeuvred by richer nations, jolting African officials to scramble for solutions and join forces, creating a pooled purchasing platform under the African Union to improve their negotiating power.
African health and government officials continue to scramble for solutions as reported virus cases have climbed past 27,000. Even in the best scenario, the United Nations says 74 million test kits and 30,000 ventilators will be needed by the continent’s 1.3 billion people this year. Many countries with populations numbering tens of millions have only a handful of ventilators.
Increasing health equipments and supplies
Since the start of the outbreak the World Health Organization (WHO) has been supporting African governments with early detection by providing thousands of COVID-19 testing kits to countries, training dozens of health workers and strengthening surveillance in communities.
On Friday the WHO hosted the launch of a global effort to ensure that vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics reach all countries, rich or poor.
In the two months since the continent began mobilising to fight the outbreak, less than 500,000 tests have been conducted on the population of more than 1 billion, a level lower than Italy, one of the world’s worst-hit countries.
The crisis has jolted African nations into creating a pooled purchasing platform under the African Union to improve negotiating power. Within days of its formation, the AU landed more than 100,000 test kits from a German manufacturer. The World Health Organization is pitching in; it has reported fewer than 2,000 ventilators across 41 African countries.
Africa also benefits from the U.N.’s largest emergency humanitarian operation in decades, with medical cargo, including hundreds of ventilators arriving in Ethiopia this month and sent to all countries across the continent. Another shipment from the Jack Ma Foundation is on the way.
Meanwhile, in South Africa, the government-controlled National Ventilator Project plans make 10,000 machines by the end of June, using locally manufactured materials or those already available.
New social- economic measures on the rise
Last week, Ramaphosa announced a $26 billion socioeconomic relief package meant to soften the economic blow being felt by the country’s 57 million people and businesses. This includes a special increase in social grants to the more than 16 million who rely on the monthly payments and cash transfers to the unemployed.
To make it easier for the Southern African nation, International Monetary Fund has said the country is entitled to apply for up to $4.2 billion in response to the crisis, and Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said on Friday the government could negotiate for a facility of “maybe between $55 and $60 million” at the World Bank.
While Ghanaian central bank has also asked bank service providers to waive fees on transactions of 100 cedi ($18) and eased registration requirements, allowing citizens to open more than one account.
In order to meet up with demand for food supply in Nigeria. The government has created a task force to minimize the coronavirus’s impact on agriculture. The country’s Minister of Agriculture, Muhammed Sabo Nanono said the government was creating ID cards for those in the agriculture sector, from farmers hands to food truck drivers, to enable them to move freely.
To meet up with CFA95.880 billion (about $158 million) health response plan, the Ivorian government recently adopted a strategy for economic, social, and humanitarian support to deal with the effects of covid-19. The latter plan, which amounts to CFA1,700 billion (about $ 2.8 billion), or 5% of the country’s GDP, aims to support the production tool, maintain jobs, ensure a rapid resumption of post-crisis economic activities and provide humanitarian support to disadvantaged populations.
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